Central agencies like ED are aimed at destroying cooperative sector in Kerala: CM Vijayan
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday accused central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) of targeting the cooperative sector banks in the state while turning a blind-eye to large-scale financial irregularities in other parts of the country.
Vijayan alleged that agencies like the ED were coming to Kerala to portray something being wrong with the cooperative banks here, with the "ill-intention" of destroying the sector.
The CM said that such politically motivated moves would neither be accepted nor permitted in the state.
He was speaking after inaugurating a conference here on the topic of protecting the cooperative sector.
Vijayan said there were deposits worth over Rs 2.5 lakh crore in cooperative sector banks in the state which were functioning efficiently and professionally.
"With the aim of destroying this sector, central agencies are coming here," he alleged.
Referring to the Karuvannur bank scam, Vijayan said that once the corruption in that establishment was revealed, both the cooperation department and the police had taken action.
While action was taken against the culprits, the government did not shut down the bank but tried to support it in order to safeguard the trust the people have on cooperative banks, he said.
"However, the ED rushed to the place as if it had found something new. It wanted to show that irregularities were taking place in the cooperative sector in the state with the aim of destroying it. That we cannot accept or allow," the CM alleged.
"Instead of investigating large-scale irregularities in other parts of the country where no action has been taken by the state governments, it is coming here," he further alleged.
Vijayan also claimed that the ED is an agency that has been severely criticised by many top courts of the country.
He said that various public sector banks in the country had over Rs 66 lakh crore worth non-performing assets and, of those, around Rs 16 lakh crore was waived off by the central government.
"These huge irregularities were committed by those at the helm of huge corporate companies. They committed the frauds and escaped to foreign nations," Vijayan said.
He further alleged that 15 per cent of such businessmen are those with links to the BJP at the Centre.
"Therefore, they are safe. No one questions them. There are some banks who are complicit in such activities, but the ED never sees them, never reaches them and does not question them.
"Instead, it targets the cooperative sector banks which are the backbone of our state. This is not acceptable and will be opposed," Vijayan said.
He called upon everyone to come together as one and oppose such activities of central agencies like ED.
The Enforcement Directorate, which is investigating the multi-crore Karuvannur bank scam, has arrested a local CPI(M) leader and Wadakkanchery Municipal Councillor P R Aravindakshan.
The agency also arrested a former employee of the bank C K Jills, who allegedly syphoned off Rs 5 crore in bank funds.
The ED had earlier arrested two people in connection with the alleged issuance of 'benami' loans from the bank.
On September 11, CPI(M) leader and MLA A C Moideen was interrogated for over nine hours by the ED.
The investigation into the alleged fraud, beginning in 2010 in the Thrissur-based bank, stems from 16 FIRs registered by the Kerala Police (crime branch) in Thrissur.
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Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
New Delhi (PTI): Police here have busted a crime syndicate involved in traffic fraud and extortion, arresting three people including the alleged mastermind who sold fake stickers to help commercial vehicles bypass no-entry restrictions, an official said on Saturday.
The police said they dismantled a third organised syndicate linked to traffic-related frauds, with the arrest of Rinku Rana alias Bhushan, his associate Sonu Sharma and Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, who was also connected to another extortion syndicate.
According to the police, Rinku Rana was running a well-organised network that facilitated the movement of commercial goods vehicles during restricted hours by selling fake 'marka' or stickers for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per vehicle every month. The stickers were falsely projected as authorisation to evade traffic challans.
During raids, the police recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash, property documents worth several crores of rupees, over 500 fake stickers and six mobile phones allegedly used to operate the syndicate.
The crackdown followed a complaint filed by a traffic police officer in April this year after a commercial vehicle tried to evade checking by producing a fake sticker claiming exemption from enforcement action.
Investigation revealed that social media groups were being used to coordinate the illegal movement of vehicles and alert drivers about traffic police checkpoints, police said.
"A parallel system was being run to cheat drivers and vehicle owners while undermining traffic enforcement. On the basis of evidence, provisions related to organised crime under the BNS were invoked," a senior police officer said.
Sonu Sharma, the police said, managed social media groups through which stickers were sold and real-time alerts were circulated regarding traffic police movement. He also acted as a link between Rana and drivers operating in the field.
In a related development, Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, an associate of Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, who was earlier arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was also apprehended.
Mukesh allegedly helped extort money from transporters and was involved in blackmailing traffic police personnel by recording enforcement actions, the police said.
Investigators alleged the syndicate led by Rajkumar deployed drivers to deliberately violate traffic rules and secretly record police officials during challans, later using manipulated videos to extort money under threat of false allegations.
The police said that in total, eight accused belonging to three different organised crime syndicates linked to traffic frauds and extortion have been arrested so far.
Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining members, conduct financial probes, and analyse digital evidence recovered during the raids, officials added.
